Development of efficient membranes has been a challenge in the field of fluid filtration, in particular when aimed at environmental and industrial separations (e.g. water purification and resource recovery).
Filtration membranes have become components of a broad range of sustainability applications and technologies including (i) energy conservation and storage (e.g. fuel cells and batteries), (ii) water reuse and desalination (e.g. reverse osmosis, nanofiltration and ultrafiltration) and (iii) gas separations (e.g. CO2 and H2 separations). Current commercial polymeric membranes often carry a single function, i.e. salt rejection by a reverse osmosis membrane or proton transport by a polymer electrolyte membrane.
Whether for human consumption, agriculture or industry, several methods are commonly used for filtration including reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF), ultrafiltration (UF) and microfiltration (MF) and additional methods identifiable by a skilled person.
Despite production and elaboration during the past 20 years of several filtration concepts/technologies proposed as improvements or alternatives to the above mentioned approaches, development of efficient, cost-effective and/or environmental friendly filtration methods and system has been a challenge in particular when directed at selective filtration.